Governor for power engines



April 14, 1942.

o. PETERSEN GOVERNOR FOR POWER ENGINES Filed Jan. 9, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 14, 1942. 5. PETERSEN GOVERNOR FOR POWER ENGINES Filed Jan. "9, 1940 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 14, 1942 GOVERNOR FOR POWER ENGINES 0ve Petersen, Gentofte, near Copenhagen,

. Denmark Application January 9, 1940,-Serial No. 313,112

1 In Denmark January 30, 1939 1 Claim.

to the propeller being raised more or less'out of the water as a result of pitching of the vessel.

Known governors of this kind comprise an oscillating lever actuated in time with the revoludirection. By this means a decrease in or interruption of the fuel supply to some or all of the cylinders of the engine is efiected.

Normally the passive system is immediately restored into its normal position in which itleaves the fuel pumps undisturbed to deliver the quantity of fuel to which they have been adjusted by means of the ordinary charge controlling lever,

so that the engine; after a short interruption or decrease of the fuel supply by which the speed is reduced, again operates normally. The restoring of the passive system may be effected by means of an abutment on the oscillating lever. Such an abutment may be rigidly mounted on the lever, but advantageously the abutment is arranged on another spring-urged pendulum body so that it normally projects for engagement with the passive system when the latter has been removed from its initial inactive position, but is retracted owing to inertia forces when the speed of the engine exceeds a given speed. In the latter case the passive system will be left in the position corresponding to a decreased fuel sup-'- ply while the oscillating lever completes one or more oscillations, and the passive system will not be restored into its initial position until the speed of the engine is reduced below that at which the inertia forces on the latter pendulum body are overcome by the spring force acting thereon. By this arrangement an additional security against an unpermissible increase in the speed of engine owing to pitching of extraordinary long duration is obtained.

Governors of this kind are described, for example, in the British specification No; 333,085 and the United States Patent No. 2,116,025. 7

It is known in such governors-toprovide means for adjusting the tension of one or more-springs acting upon the pendulum bodies, such means comprising either an adjustment screw mounted upon and reciprocating with a spring housing on the oscillating lever, or a hand wheel mounted on some suitable stationary engine part and connected to a spring housingon the oscillating lever by means of a flexible shaft. These means are disadvantageous because they do not allow the spring tension to be adjusted with such accuracy that the governor becomes operative immediately the engine speed-exceeds a given value,

and because the operation of these means'de-' pends either upon theengineers skill in timing the movements of his hand in relation to the oscillating lever or upon the functioning of a light flexible shaft." Such a shaft is, however, liable to become damaged especially when one end has to move rapidly up and down.

According to the present invention, these disadvantages are obviated in that themeans for transmitting the adjusting-movement for regulating the spring tension-comprises an adjustment shaft journalle'd on the oscillating lever and means, for example a cylindrical rack, mounted co-axially with the pivot of the oscillating lever whereby the'adjustment' shaft can be operated. The cylindrical rack or the like can then be operated by a stationary hand wheel, so that the adjustment of the spring tension can be carried out by means of the stationary hand wheel or like member and transmitted to the" spring housing by reliable means. Consequently it becomes possible under all circumstances to adjust the governor so as to become operative immediately the engine speed exceeds the maximum permissible limit under the prevailing conditions and the engine can, therefore, be run without danger at-a speed which liesveryslight 1y below the said limit. It therefore becomes possibleto set the passive system in such a manner that, when operated, it adjusts the fuel pumps to'deliver a quantity of fuel corresponding to idle running at normal speed, so that even pitching of long duration with the propeller out of the water cannot cause the engine to run unduly fast, while on the other hand nomaterial reduction in speed, and consequently of the pow-' er output, when the propeller is again submerged, takes place.

The passive system may be restored either by means of a fixed abutment on'the oscillating lever or by means of a second pendulum body which is normally held in an operative position by means of a spring but is retracted when the speed of the engine exceeds a given speed, and in the latter case similar means may be provided for adjusting the tension of the spring.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, two forms of a governor constructed in accordance with the invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. v1 shows diagrammatically a side elevation, partly insection, of the first form,

Fig. 2 is a section on the line IIII in Fig. 1 showing the governor head in-its position relatively to the passive system,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the secondform, and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of part of Fig. 3 partly in section.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the governor comprises a double-armed lever I, I3 pivotally supported on a bracket 5 on the engine frame which is not shown. One arm I3 of the double-armed lever is. connected to a suitable eccentric device orthe like (not shown). of the engine so that an oscillating movement in a vertical plane and preferably in; time with the revolutions of the engine is imparted to the lever.

The outer end of the-arm l is shaped as a flat.v

rectangular head 8 with two apertures 9 and Ill in each of which a pendulum body, II and I2 respectively, is mounted. Each pendulum body is journalled on apin, I4 and I5 respectively, rigidly mounted in the head 8. The pendulum body II comprises a ratchet lever I6 which is projected by means of a spring device I'I into the position shown in Fig. 2 in which the pendulum body abuts against an abutment on the head 8. Correspondingly the pendulum body I.2 comprises a ratchet lever I8 and is spring-pressed by a spring device; I9 so that the ratchet lever is kept retracted against the head 8 resting againstan abutment thereon. v

The passive system comprises a double-armed lever I, 2 which is pivotally mounted on the same pivot as the double-armed lever .7, I3 and of which one arm I is connected. to a linkage system not shown through which the fuel supply of the fuel pumps may be influenced. The second arm 2 is provided with two abutments 3 and 4 which the ratchet levers I8 and Ifi respectively engage when in their projected positions.

Each of the spring devices I! and I9 comprises a generally tubular spring housing 2! v having laterally projecting bearing pins and enclosing a helical spring 2|, the tension of which maybe roughly adjusted by means of an, adjustment screw 22. Each spring presses on the pendulum body through the agency ofa rod 23. I

The housing of the spring. device I1 is journalled in two bosses 24 on the head 8 while the housing of the spring device I9 is pivoted eccentrically in a rotatable shaft 25 by meansv of pins 26. The shaft 25 isv journalled in bosseson the head 3 and carries on the inner end towards the pivot of the lever I, I3 a depending lever 2'] which is connected by a connecting rod 28 to a lever 29; on the end of an adjustment shaft 30. The adjustment shaft 30 is journalled in bearings 3| on the lever arm I and carries a gear meshing, with a cylindrical rack 33 which is axially displac eable co-axially with the pivot of the lever I, I3. Another gear 34 meshes with the cylindrical rack 33 and is mounted on a shaft 35 journalled in a fixed bearing 36. The shaft. 3.5 may be. rotated by means of a hand wheel 31 and carries an index wheel 38 indicating the degree of rotation.

The operation of the above described governor is as follows.

Provided that the engine is running at its normal number ofrevolutions the pendulum bodies will occupy the position shown in Fig. 2 in which the ratchet lever I6 has moved the control lever 2 down into its lowermost position shown in Fig. 1 by engagement with the abutment 4. When the speed of the engine increases beyond a certain value the inertia forces acting upon the penso that the ratchet lever I8 will be thrown out and engage the abutment 3. This causes the control lever I, 2 to move upwards together with the head 8 during the following upward movement of the double-armed lever I, I3 to the position shown in Fig. 1. This movement of the control lever I, 2 effects through the previously mentioned linkage a reduction of the fuel supply by some orall of the fuel pumps, and provision is advantageously made so that the supply of the fuel pumps is reduced to the amount corresponding to'idle running at. normal speed.

During the following downward movement of the. double-armed lever], I3to its lowermost end position the control lever I, 2 is also swung downwards as a result of the ratchet lever I6 engaging the abutment 4, so that the fuel pumps are again set to deliver the quantity of fuel to which they are adjusted by means of the ordinary speedcontrol device. The temporary reduction of the fuel supply which was effected. during the upward and downwardmovement of the control lever 'I, 2 will generally result in such a reduction in speed that the ratchet lever I8 will now remain in the retracted position shown in Fig. 2 so that the control lever I, 2 will be left in its normal inoperative position shown in Fig. 1. If the speed has not been sufiiciently reduced the ratchet lever I 8 will, however, again be thrown out and take the control lever with it so that, if the pitching is of long duration, the control lever will follow the oscillating lever 1, I3 through two or. more successive oscillations until, owing to. the periodic reductionof the fuel. supply, the speed has fallen below that at which the ratchet level I8 is. thrown out.

The ratchet lever I6 serves, as will be. clear from the above, to restore the control lever. I, 2 into its normal position, butin order to ensure that, under exceptional conditions, the engine shall not attain too high a speed, the ratchet lever I6 is arranged to be withdrawn when a ,iven speed is exceeded. The control lever I, 2 will then be left in the position corresponding to reduced fuel supply during at least one downward and upward movement of the oscillating lever I, I3 that is normally during one engine revolution. When, as a result of this, the speed has been reduced so much that the pressure of i the'spring device I! on the pendulum body II overcomes the inertia forced thereon, the ratchet lever I6, is again thrown outinto the position shown in Fig. 2 whereafter it restores the control lever to. the normal position of the following downward movement.

According to the invention the spring load on the one pendulum body, namely the pendulum body I2, can beadjusted while the engine is running, and the said adjustment is carried out by rotating the shaft 25. in which thespring housing is eccentrically suspended. As will be clear from Fig. 2, when the shaft 25 is rotated, the bearing pins 26 of the spring housing will move nearer to or further away from the pendulum body I2 so that the spring tension may be very finely adjusted. The adjusting movement is transmitted from the hand wheel 3? through the above described transmission means which allow of variations of the adjustment to be made even while the engine is running because the cylindrical rack 33 is arranged co-axially with the pivot of the oscillating lever 1, l3.

It is therefore possible as previously mentioned to adjust the speed limit at which the pendulum body I2 is thrown out and reduces the fuel supply very exactly according to the conditions prevailing at any moment, so that it is possible to run the engine at or approximately at normal speed even in very bad weather withsible speed.

The form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 differs from the form described mainly in the construction of the device for adjusting the spring tension. On the shaft 25 in the head 8, by means of which the spring tension is adjusted, is mounted a gear wheel 39 which meshes with another gear wheel 49 on a shaft 42 journalled in a bearing 41. The shaft 42 carries at its other end a gear wheel 43 meshing with a gear wheel 44 on a shaft 45 which is journalled co-axially with the pivot of the oscillating lever I, I3. The shaft 45 may be rotated by means of an adjustment head 46 and carries on a screw-threaded portion 4! a nut 48 which is displaceable but not rotatable and has an index mark indicating the spring adjustment on a scale 49.

Although, in the forms described above, the spring tension on only one of the pendulum bodies is capable of adjustment while the engine is running, it is obvious that the spring tension on the other pendulum body might also be similarly adjustable, in which case a very accurate control may be obtained.

The spring devices and their adjustment meansillustrated and described areonly examples and may obviously be varied.

I claim:

An engine governor having an oscillating lever, a pendulum body pivotally mounted thereon, a spring housing with a spring acting upon the said pendulum body for keeping the same in one end position against the action of inertia forces below a certain limit of engine speed, a rotatable shaft mounted on said oscillating lever with its axis parallel to the pivot axis of the pendulum body, the said spring housing being pivotally mounted on said shaft with its pivot axis parallel to but not co-inciding' with that of the said shaft, and an adjusting shaft mounted co-axially with the pivot of the oscillating lever and operatively connected with the said rotatable shaft."

OVE PETERSEN. 

